Profile of Eric West on Famous Like Me

Eric West (born Eric Rosa on May 18, 1982 in New York, NY USA) is a model turned pop singer and actor. In 1996, he made his acting debut in Movies Money Murder; in 2004, he became one of the most exciting new faces to hit the international model scene, while two more movies followed, Lords of Dogtown, and a movie with pop idol Lindsay Lohan and Nick Cannon currently in production. Eric has appeared on CNN People In The News and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Scouted by New Faces in America, he has happily coupled his first passion as a singer / songwriter with a successful modeling career.

Eric started recording music at the age of 12 much like his uncle Grammy winner Smokey Robinson of Motown fame, Black Eyed Peas member Fergie (Stacy Ferguson) discovered Eric, and invited the then 15 year old to appear on stage with the Grammy winner at a concert in New York City for Jane Magazine. In 1996 West released his debut single End Of The World in Asia, it achieved Top 10 status on the Tokyo Hot 100 singles chart, right before he turned 15 he had finished recording a full-length album titled H20 that was never released. The single failed to hit in America. In the summer of 1998 Eric took his voice to radio, at age 16 he was the youngest DJ in history on FM radio in New York City, when he became a CO-host of the Top 9 at 9 on WBLS with radio diva JC Jordan.

On September 21st, 2000 Eric joined Rich Cronin of the platinum selling band LFO, in Brooklyn, New York to help lead the Light The Night Walk with 12 year-old leukemia survivor Kimberly Thach, the Society's National Youth Ambassador. Eric, Rich and Kimberly lead approximately 1,000 leukemia survivors, friends, and family members carrying illuminated balloons over the Brooklyn Bridge to commemorate lives touched by cancer.

After nearly 3 years out of the spotlight Eric returned briefly in 2001 with Can You Help Me? his first single in over 5 years, produced by Stay-C Hogan and written by Eric West it became an international radio hit topping the B-Radio Latin American radio charts for 2 weeks, rivaling songs by Justin Timberlake and Madonna for the No. 1 spot, while hitting Top 5 on numerous stations in Chile, Bolivia and Mexico, rumors of an album being released floated around on the Internet, but were untrue at the time. In 2002 Eric got together with Grammy winning producers David Foster (Michael Jackson, Céline Dion, Whitney Houston) and Carole Bayer Sager (Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Neil Diamond) to write a song for Pop icon Cher for her forthcoming album, a demo version of the song "Love Don't Live Here" was leaked to the internet.

Eric once again disappeared until early 2004 but returned stronger than ever. He signed a deal with Artist Against Racism to appear in their TV commercials in America. Artist Against Racism is an organization that also includes superstars like Céline Dion, Lenny Kravitz, Sarah McLachlan, Mike Myers, Bush and Aerosmith. He made his TV debut acting in the show In My Lifetime directed by Devin Hampton and Little X who has directed music videos for Sean Paul, Usher, Alicia Keys, R. Kelly and Nelly. Eric then received a top honor from the OCTN; he was awarded the Humanitarian Award : Youth Of The Millennium. He received the award for the charity work he's done in his community over the years.

In 2004 Eric also appeared in his own fashion spread in Marie Claire Japan. He was featured as one of fashion's top new models and singers, and that was just early 2004.

On August 28th, Eric made media headlines worldwide when he wore a "I Support Janet Jackson" T-shirt to the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, which was a bold statement in regard to Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime controversy. Eric told Teen People USA, "It was my way of showing Janet support after being blacklisted by so many media outlets". The T-shirt earned mentions in the NY Daily News, New York Post, Miami Herald and Los Angeles Times to name a few. Janet Jackson and her fan club sent the singer a thank you message for his support.

Eric continued to work on his debut album Half Life. Eric was scheduled to tour the UK as opening act for European superstar Matt Goss famous for UK hits When Will I Be Famous, Try and I'm Coming With Ya, but the tour was canceled due to Goss' recent ill health at the time.

West also began working on a new song with producer and DJ, Galbis. The track is slated to debut in clubs sometime in early 2006 close to Eric's CD release.

As 2004 continued Eric's star continued to rise, as he became part of many Internet rumors and gossip columns, which included rumors that Eric did not like or get along pop stars, Usher Raymond and Justin Timberlake, while according to sources in Eric's camp, the rumors are untrue, reports say West is good friends with the singers. . Eric attended Timberlake's "Justified" release party in 2002.

In mid-December 2004, Eric found himself once again making headlines when he announced on his official web site that he finished work on a song titled "Wires," inspired by those whose lives have been touched by HIV and AIDS.

Working on my album has been an amazing journey, a lot of it has been inspired by people, and more so life, recently, I wrote a song called "Wires," which is about HIV/AIDS, inspired by a few friends of mine who are going though situations that deal with HIV/AIDS. The singer also added, With my music, I don't want to compete with every other singer out there, but I want to make a difference in peoples lives, that matters to me, more so than selling millions of albums. I pray that I am able to changes lives or at least help to make them better, and I know it will be a risk to release a song about HIV/AIDS like "Wires," but I'm willing to take that chance.

On January 20, 2005 AOL Music announced it will premiere Eric's debut single from "Half | Life" towards the end of March, on Eric's official site, it states the LP's first single will be between "Half | Life" and a track titled "If I Only Knew", according to numerous websites the album will include songs called "Black Rose," "Wires," and "Underdog". Eric has said in interviews that the album is a mixture of Electropop, R&B, Rock and Hip-Hop.

Attempting to further popularize his name and image, he signed on to be a model for the hugely popular "Day Birger et Mikkelsen" line in Denmark and the UK in April 2005.

Aug. 6, 2005 Eric co-hosted The Reign at the Gerald W. Lynch Theatre in New York City with actress/singer Christina Milian, the event was designed by a group of inner-city children in 2003 to raise funding and awareness for HIV/AIDS prevention education for men, women and children living with HIV and AIDS through the Elton John Aids Foundation, as well as working with the Fresh Air Fund to continue to help other inner-city children and family's. Both Milian and West were awarded Outstanding Achievement Awards for their humanitarian efforts. Eric also appeared on NBC's Weekend Edition to talk about hosting the event.

Movies

• 2005 - Lords of Dogtown

Discography

Albums

• 2006 Half | Life

Singles

• 1996 "End Of The World"
• 2001 "Can You Help Me"
• 2006 "Half Life"/"Don't Make Me Wait"

Trivia

• Eric has 2 siblings, an older brother and sister. He hired his sister to be his personal assistant. She travels with him. [Marie Claire Japan]
• Born to an African American mother and a Puerto Rican father.
• In an interview with Germany's "Music Mix" Magazine, Eric West stated he would like to work with the likes of Eminem, Alicia Keys and Robbie Williams in the future.
• From time to time Eric chats with his fans via the internet online community MySpace.

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